Omaha daily bee., 1887-02-27
CONSTITUTIONAL CONTESTS.
How the Relative Strength Of the Ministry
and Opposition Stands.
DENmARK's POLITICAL DANGER
The For;ific alton or Copenhageu-Es-
trup's Cabinet n Ministry orAn.
tagonism - The Folkethinc
Conservative

CoPENHAGEv, Feb. g. Correspond.
ence of the BEE Last week. our rigs.
dag or Diet met for the first time since
the recent important elections for the
iolkething, or lower house. Our folke.
thing, which consists OF l02 members,
may be likened to the house of common.
and, according to ;he Danish constltu
tion, it should have much the same
powers as its English prototype But
the Estrup ministry, which has been in
power since June. 1866, Is so in the habit
OF violating law and having recourse TO
force, that l fear that an absolute
monarchy may eventually replace the
Constitutional monarchy, established by
the compact of 1s4o
The Opposition has, however. won
victory over the Ministerialists in the
elections which have just been held. 1t
can count on seventy five votes in the
new folkething, with the Faro islands,
which elect one member, still to be heard
from; that is, we are nearly three times
stronger than our political opponents.
Since September 1872, we have been in
the majority, and yet, during the past
III Attu Ntli-. .lut llllllSlIN Has pttl tIO>bll
from the minority. What a violation of
the rules of parliamentary government!
The ministry seems to care nothing for
the support of the popular branch of the
diet, provided t enjoy the favor of the
king, and the confidence of the lands
thing, the Danish house of lords, COM
posed of aristocrauc plutocratic, and
bureaucratic elements, which are more
reactionary than conservative in spirit
The folkething. on the other hand. is
conservative, in the best sense of the
word, rather than radical, since the most
influential portion of Danish voters
ARE wELL-TO-po FARMERS,
and q members pay is so small-but a
little over 81 l.5D a day-that II is only per-
sons OF some means who can afford to
enter the rigSdag. Although democratic
and SUcia.lStic ideas are widespread in
Denmark, bu; two representatives of the
party have ever succeeded in being
elected to the folkething, and one of
them lost his seat IN the campaign Just
closed. Ihe opposition in the last folke
thing was composed not only OF the LETT
and the two democratic socialists, but
also included several members of the
liberal right. 1t will be seen, therefore,
that the tolkething by its nature, and the
opposition by It's composition are, as
have already said, conservative rather
than radical, and yet the ministry treat
with contempt both the house and its
majority. In order that foreigners may
understand this singular state Of things 1t
Is necessary 10 begin at the beginning.
The Estrup cabinet may be character
lied in a word as a ministry of antago-
nism and militariSm. At the start its
members SIX IN number, were all taken
from the aristocratic l9ndsthing.
Imagine an English cabinet chosen
wholly from the house OF lords! To-day
there are seven members and, although
three belong to the fOlkething, they are
taken from the right. From the start the
iolkething endeayored 10 come to an un-
derstanding with the Estrup cabinet but
IN less than four months there was
\ SERIOUS FALLING OUT
between the government and the opposi-
ton, the latter being unable to accept the
demands of the former in regard TO mill
tarY measures. Consequently, in March,
1916, the ministry dissolved the fo!ke-
thing Tor the first time, and the same
proceeding has been repeated on several
occasions since. At the elections of the
month following, the oppoSion was in
creased from little over one-half 10
threc-quarters OF the members of the
folkething. But the ministry did not re-
sign. On the contrary, the Estrup cabinet
dtAAdLI. DIpl-ul 4OT u Ilt very SAINT
bill concerning the fortiicationS OF
Copenhagen that the preceding folke-
thing had refused TO pass Instead Of
yielding the ministry finally had recourse
once more TO dissolution. and in Decem-
Der. 1878, general elections were again
held, followed by another dissolution,
and another election in the spring of the
SINE year, which procedure was repeated
in July, ISL, and again last month.
Whether the dissolution and election of
this winter vii! be the last of the series
in this long and dangerous constitutional
struggle remains TO be seen. Nor does
this enumeration complete the list of at
tacks on popular liberty committed by
the Estrup cabinet. The annual session
during the parliamentary vacation
TIE KING MAY EXERCISE
his powers ut the expense OF those OF the
people. Again, this same evil genius,
Estrup, has set the ldndsthing against
the folkething, thus dividing the rigSie-
into two hostile camps. T""..IIs. when the
lower mouse s1cn; up bills, according 10
Our constitution. 10 the upper house for
its action on them, they would be re-
turned with a message to the effect that
the !andsthing considered it preferable
that the initiative in legislation be left TO
the government. | wonder what your
house of representatives. would say if
your senate were 10 follow such course;
But the worst remains 10 be told. Our
constitution requires that appropriations
be Iirst voted in the fOlke,hing, where
the ministry, however, pays little or no